Day 9: Wilpena Pound to Blinman

December 15, 2021

A picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe. That was a spoiler alert.

So...today was to be my last day on The Mawson Trail. What a roller coaster ride it has been! I was rested and fresh, and excited I guess...but also a bit down that the day had actually come, if that makes sense? Perhaps I should have gone for it on Monday from Rawnsley Park, in the heat...and given myself a big day of k's and a higher suffer-fest score that would have left me tired...?! And more elated perhaps? It's strange how the mind works like that...when the achievements feel more worthwile when the body has suffered under the triumph of the mind.

Instead, I found myself setting off with a certainty that the day was a done deal...a formality, almost taken for granted. The idea was that I could savor the moment and ride along with the internal trumpet fanfare blaring in my mind, soaking it all in like a hero. Everything had gone to plan. Mission accomplished and all that.

Don't get me wrong...I was happy to be in this place and to have come this far in such a short time. And, if the truth be told, I guess there was an element of me wanting to stretch out time...to try and force myself to slow down and take it all in.

It's quite often a conundrum when you are on the road. Just getting from one point to another can be all consuming. In which case, what's the point?! What do you get from that? Is that the motivation and the challenge in itself? The time factor, the comparison with the crowd? The sense of achievement at slotting in the objective within your ever so busy calendar life? Each one of us will have their own answer for that, and many of us will have done it both ways.

For me, I like to suffer. Simple. For the sake of it Travel, ticking off exotic locations, rinse-repeat journeys, mind numbing 'holidays'...all meaningless to me, lost in the whirlpool of oblivion my mind's shit-memory-rejection system. I think I lucked out and worked this out a long time ago...it is the suffering I remember, the getting through when it goes wrong, the scraping by and the fine line you tread when serious stuff can happen and you have to focus, and you just make it happen. The hard work, the sweat, and sometimes the tears. That's the stuff my memories are made of, and the stuff that fetches the wry smile to my face. That kind of stuff makes me grow. Can I do it constantly? Live my whole life like that? Nope, I can't. But I like to go for a swim in it as and when I can.

But I digress. What of my journey?! The riding?! Why am I here again?! Yes, the Mawson Trail! Flyless again last night, warm and breezy, but once again an ever so vague pitter of rain at 3am...no, more like mist droplets... wakened my senses and I awoke to put the fly on...

And so it was that I found myself setting off at a nefarious 7:30am. Straight out from the campsite, on to the trail, an easy warm-up before the trail proper. This was a magnificent section of riding, starting out with spectacular views out to St Mary's Peak and the surrounds. Beautiful single track through shaded pine forest and clearings that was fluid and engaging. So much so that I didn't want to stop and take photos and disturb the chi that made an hour pass by in what felt like five minutes of musings in my mind's eye. But I did. Because this is a photo blog, aye?!

Ngarri Mudlanha. That's not Welsh BTW :-) That is what the local indigenous people, the Adnyamathanha, call St Mary's Peak. This is the highest peak in the Flinders Ranges, but not in South Australia, and is a sacred place for the Adnyamathanha people.

More stunning views as the ride kicks in to gear. Soo much rock! I must come back with someone else that climbs and has a penchant for adventure off the beaten track!

The forest single track eventually faded out in to more familiar, and typical territory of The Mawson: 4wd track with a mixture of loose to hard-packed to outright rocky sections of trail interspersed with creek bed crossings of varying intensities of either stone of wheel eating sand.

Lots of kangaroos around, and great to see them running away from yet another white man on a bike, which means they are still wild. I'd also come accross several Emu - either a family, or on their lonesome. Again, they would see, assess, and then high tail it out of my line of sight.

Beautiful pine forest, interspersed with gums, some victims of previous fires

The gums were shedding their blossom and it made the creek beds appear to be lined with gold. The gums were alive with life, buzzing and droning with the sound of Cicadas. Not just here, but all along the Mawson..,

After an age of gentle descent down Bunyeroo Valley, I knew I would be approaching the start of the ascent up in to Brachina Gorge. The descent was slowed pretty regularly by innocent looking, but dangerous creek beds and water run-off channels that demanded to be treated with respect.

The terrain varied between rocky stuff and shale like sandy stuff, depending on where and how the water had run through

Several weeks back the area had been inundated with heavy rains which had closed several of the main roads in the park. The water runs off the land because it is so dry and rocky, and forms raging torrents which converge in several major creek systems throughout the park. One of the largest of these convergences occur at the junction of Bunyeroo and Brachina.

I took some time to pause here, just to soak in the tranquility. The road was not yet open to cars, so I had the place to myself.

There were some big old trees there that were hundreds of years old. Some of them, like this one, victims to storm water and cycles of erosion over the years. And fire. We never forget fire around here!

This old tree looks destined to end up per the previous ones. Could be another 100 years though. Who knows?! Magnificent root systems.

At Brunch, I remembered I had a Snickers bar! Score!

This is what a road looks like when a grader has just been through...

The grader is a big heavy machine that is dragged over the road surface. It leaves a loose surface, pushing lots of shit off to the sides, but taking away much of the corrugations...sometimes :-)

I had an eerie feeling that the grader had just been through...which turned out to be correct, as I saw it ahead of me while I was climbing up Brachina Gorge. I never caught up with it, as I had to turn off and on to a different fire track. Best of all, I did not hear it either, due to the wind direction, so my tranquility in this magnificent place was not spoiled by the sounds of laboring machinery :-)

The ascent up Brachina was slow and steady, with spectacular views that are often photographed. Guess what?! Here are some photos...

Last corner just before the main viewpoint. It just looked spectacular looking back, so I stopped to take a rest. I mean photo. To be honest, I had forgotten there were a couple of viewpoints just around the next corner.

Parks had done a great job of installing picnic tables with the weathered look ;-)

And Razorback Lookout yet another way...

I was sad to leave Brachina track (?) and take a left turn on to Trezona fire track...which turned out to be quite stony and technical in places...

When I turned on to the Trezona track I found myself starting to think about the end of the trail and what an epic adventure it had been. The views and ridge lines that I could see from Razorback ridge now appeared to be getting distant and were falling away behind me and in to shadow. I'd been really lucky with the weather again - it being cloudy and all that. Perhaps not the best photos but not too hot at about 30C or so

The landscape also started to change subtlety, opening out a bit, and the big gums that had been ever present started to dwindle away. There were the usual creek beds to navigate. In some places the landscape looked like something out of Lord of The Rings...

The landscape was going through another subtle change as I was leaving one area of the park behind...

Not sure what happened to these fellas...there be fighting in middle earth

The sort of character building stuff you see on the trail...

A big pump track made for giants in the middle of the trail

It was great to check out Middlesight Hut. This would have perhaps been my 1st night stay option if I had started the trail in Parachilna, at the bus drop off. In comon with many of the old buildings, it seemed to be designed for shorter of stature Cornish folk...very basic, all that you needed for shelter really. Having rainwater in the tank is gold up this end.

Middlesight hut. Not built for tall people or the hygienic. Best suited for the tired and grateful.

I stopped and had lunch here for some reason. Probably because I was hungry

A minor climb. Pretty near the end of the track here, I could sense it.

A tree. I like trees. You can probably guess that by now.

From Middlesight, it wasn't long before I reached the road, which to me, meant the end of the trail, even though it was another 18k or so of undulating to Blinman. I'd been here before, it is a good road to ride. The scenery reminded me of the rolling hills you get in places back in the Welsh valleys and Cornwall. Roadkill excepted :-)

The Great Wall of China appears on your right and is basically an escarpment of rock about 15m high. Place names, and attraction names here are pretty straight to the point...

The end of the track. Am I happy to see the road?! YEAHNOOOOPE. No. No I wasn't. Funny that, eh?!

I always thought this town sign was funny. I am not sure whether it actually refers to altitude or the demeanor of the 17 inhabitants :-)

The staged selfie at the start or end of the Mawson Trail...

The first of 3963 Mawson Trail direction markers you see on the trail if you are heading North to South...I made that number up BTW

I eventually arrived in Blinman to a fanfare of trumpets and cheerleaders...attended the contractual photo call...and headed to the hotel to eat some sponsor food and have a massage.

Life is Good! I'll be back to do it again from North to South this time...but more of that to come in another entry, where I'll put together some final thoughts and such :-)

Wednesday...now I had a couple of days loafing around and waiting for the bus back home on Friday @ 8am, which was 33k down the road at Parachilna. What am I going to do?! Drink beer and eat lamb shank for starters...

Today's ride: 67 km (42 miles)
Total: 779 km (484 miles)

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Brianna DallWell done!! :-) I really enjoy your dark sense of humor, great read.
Thanks for sharing.
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2 years ago

Rob CarlinTo Brianna DallThanks Brianna! It certainly was an adventure and I'll do it again for sure :-) Already thinking about the next trip! Perhaps the Lavender trail into the Kidman trail and back up to Adelaide along the beach :-)
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2 years ago